Midnight Walk - organised by Charity Case
Saturday 29 September 2007
13+ Years
£5

Charity Case is a group of young people who organised a 12 mile Midnight Walk in Bicester on Saturday 29 September 2007. All proceeds went to the Make a Wish Foundation.

1007 and All That - Exhibition at the Said Business School 16 - 31 August 2007

Young photographers aged 13 - 16 years had the chance to display their work at a special exhibition at the Said Business School in Oxford.

1007 and All That is an exhibition of Oxfordshire's history through the eyes of young people and was created as part of the Oxfordshire in Pictures project at the centre this summer, which sent the group out on a whirlwind tour of Oxford and towns and villages in the north of the county.

The project was led by artists Liz Yardley & Mick Brittain and celebrates 1000 years of Oxfordshire.

Stop Press!
BBC Oxford has interviewed our Urban Graffiti Artists about their artwork.  Visit: the BBC web site to read their stories. 

A Sizzling Summer Festival - 11 August 2007

On Saturday 11 August young people strutted their stuff at the Courtyard's summer festival. Over 200 people, both young and old, attended the event which included performances by bands Burning in December, Parallax and Not so Naked, dancers from the Inhale/Exhale dance group, MC Youngster and a Recycled Fashion Show by the Tuesday night Youth Group.

The barbeque, kindly run by Victor and Carole, went down a treat and the sun shone so we couldn't have asked for more.

A big thank you to all the volunteers and staff that helped to make the event such a success.

Burning in December and Not so Naked

Parallax

BBQ and Recycled Fashion Show
All photos Mick Brittain

Summer Round Up

Film - Three young people aged 14 - 17 years and filmmaker Sam Hopkins spent a week creating a film about the Courtyard's past and present. The film sets the scene of what is happening now, interspersed with some great stories about the centre and its past, told directly to camera by people that used to attend the centre.

Thank you to all those people who gave up their time to tell us their stories and to Bicester Town Council that helped to fund the project.

The project was part of the Summerscreen Film Festival for Young People - visit www.ofvm.org for more information.

Dance - Breakers Roly Carline and Kieran Edmonds from Oxford ran a week-long project to create a performance piece that fused break and street dance. The group of ten young people aged 13 - 19 years worked incredibly hard, learning new moves and developing their choreographic skills. The performance to friends, family and staff at the end of the week was fantastic.

Photos by Garreth Bayliss

Visual Arts - We held three Art Days for young people aged 8 - 12 years. These days are a chance to create a piece of artwork in a day that the participants can take home with them. These are very messy but very fun workshops!

DJ - We held two half-day workshops to give young people the chance to learn the basic skills involved in DJ'ing. 8 young people took part and were able to take away a CD of what they produced - which in 4 hours was incredible.

For more information about Artweeks the Oxfordshire Visual Arts Festival
go to www.artweeks.org

Courtyard Young Artists Show
29 May - 2 June 2007

The show in 2007 involved more than 30 young people and attracted over 140 visitors to the centre!

Young photographers, graffiti artists and art club members all had a chance to display their work, which was much applauded by all who visited during the week.

"How fantastic… what a talented bunch of young people. Bravo!"

"Amazing photos"

"Talented students, impressive works of art. You all should be proud of such outstanding achievements. Well done"

"Good exhibition - impressive photography and lovely display of younger artists work"

The 2-day live graffiti jam drew a good crowd and the artists will finish the design on the youth club wall over the course of this term.

The Bicester Review, Oxford Mail and Bicester Advertiser all featured the Courtyard in June 2007 with the following photos:

Young artists in Bicester have been showing off their talent this week during a festival of art in the county.
Members of The Courtyard Youth Art Centre, in Launton Road, aged between eight and 19, have been displaying their work during Artsweek, Oxfordshire’s visual festival.
Young people in the Photography Project, Art Club and Urban Graffiti Project are displaying their work.
The urban artists also showed off their skills with a spray can as they painted one of the courtyard walls in front of visitors to the exhibition.
Visitors also have the opportunity to make their mark by including their portrait on one of the other walls.
Louise Wiggins, centre co0ordinator, said: “The young people have worked really hard to develop their skills this year and are excited about showing their artwork to the public.”

Bicester Review Friday June 1

BRITA supports the Courtyard Breakdance Crew
We are delighted to announce support from BRITA Water Filter Systems Limited, who has donated £2,500 towards the development of the Courtyard Breakdance Crew. The group meets weekly to learn the latest dance moves and performed at the Bicester Carnival on 1 July 2007.